Properties of eigenmodes and quantum-chaotic scattering in a superconducting microwave Dirac billiard with threefold rotational symmetry

Abstract

We report on experimental studies that were performed with a microwave Dirac billiard (DB), that is, a flat resonator containing metallic cylinders arranged on a triangular grid, whose shape has a threefold rotational (C3) symmetry. Its band structure exhibits two Dirac points (DPs) that are separated by a nearly flat band. We present a procedure that we employed to identify eigenfrequencies and to separate the eigenstates according to their transformation properties under rotation by 2π3 into the three C3 subspaces. This allows us to verify previous numerical results of Zhang and Dietz [Phys. Rev. B 104, 064310 (2021)2469-995010.1103/PhysRevB.104.064310], thus confirming that the properties of the eigenmodes coincide with those of artificial graphene around the lower DP, and they are well described by a tight-binding model for a honeycomb-kagome lattice of corresponding shape. Above all, we investigate the properties of the wave-function components in terms of the fluctuation properties of the measured scattering matrix, which are numerically not accessible. They are compared to random-matrix theory predictions for quantum-chaotic scattering systems exhibiting extended or localized states in the interaction region, that is, the DB. Even in regions where the wave functions are localized, the spectral properties coincide with those of typical quantum systems with chaotic classical counterparts. © 2023 American Physical Society.